The Chris Wheatley Show is a brand new weekly series talking all things Arsenal and the Premier League. This week, Chris Wheatley and host Matthew Gregory discuss the thrilling title clash against Manchester City at the Etihad, the 'dark arts' and Chris answers your fan questions.
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00:00Hello, and welcome back to the Chris Wheatley Show. I'm Matthew Gregory. The chap on the
00:08other side of your screen is Chris Wheatley, and he's here to keep you up to date with
00:12all things Arsenal. He'll be answering some of your questions later, but before we get
00:17to that, we've got a small matter of a quite brilliant game to discuss. Manchester City's
00:21late equaliser forced a 2-2 draw in the title showdown at the Etihad, but Arsenal possibly
00:26deserve to win. Played rather well and led for a long period of time. So Chris, there's
00:31got to be some mixed feelings. Are you more happy and impressed with the positive parts
00:35of the performance, or are you more disappointed that, you know, it ended up with some drop
00:40points?
00:41Well, I don't think I've heard the phrase dark arts mentioned as much as I have in the
00:45past 48 hours, and still waiting for the actual definition of what that is. But I think Arsenal,
00:53they certainly did a great job in terms of getting a result at the Etihad. No one really
00:57expected them to go there and win. But in the manner and the performance and just kind
01:04of the all-round performances from each player were excellent. I think the thing that impressed
01:09me most about that performance from Arsenal was the way they battled until the end. Of
01:16course, Manchester City got a late equaliser, but I think, you know, 10 men, it was pretty
01:21tough for the team to defend 10 men behind the ball for most of the second half. So yeah,
01:27it was a really good performance from Arsenal. I think I was just impressed the way this
01:33Arsenal team, as we spoke about in the last episode, is just completely different in terms
01:38of personality, character, everything about them is completely different now. And that's
01:44really what impressed me most.
01:45Yeah, it felt like kind of an evolution, because we saw, you know, the way things were last
01:50season, we saw the way Mikel Arteta set up against Manchester City, both home and away,
01:54he was very conservative, he was very defensive. Obviously, it kind of ended up that way when
01:59after the sending off. But, you know, it felt like there was a bit of an evolution in the
02:03way Arteta went about the game in general. Really, there were times when they were taking
02:06it to Manchester City, it didn't feel like they were just trying to absorb things and
02:10sit back. Did you see sort of an evolution in the way Mikel Arteta is setting up for
02:14these big games?
02:16Yeah, I think so. I think he was a lot more cautious than last season, for example. I
02:22think when they lost 5-0, Granit Xhaka got sent off, I think Arsenal, they had a different
02:29team, of course, they had Rob Holding at the centre of defence, he got bullied by Erling
02:32Haaland in that game. I think now there's maybe upgrades in the team, of course, they
02:38have arguably the best centre-back pairing in the Premier League, although they did get
02:42kind of caught out for Haaland's opener, which was, I think, disappointing from a
02:47defensive point of view, because I think they probably spent a lot of time talking about
02:52how they're going to deal with Haaland. And then he kind of, in the opening minutes, went
02:58straight through. It was a good pass, but it was so easy, really. I think Haaland is
03:04a really, really intelligent player, of course, but I think they would have been disappointed
03:09with that. But yeah, I think Arteta has really, really mastered the tactics against Manchester
03:16City, because I think a lot of teams maybe wouldn't have played like that, especially
03:24in the first half. But I think they were really brave. I think they were really brave in every
03:29area. And I think that, again, we're going to have to talk about that set-piece where
03:33Gabriel almost mirrored what he did against Tottenham last week in the North London Derby,
03:39scored a really good header. Again, there's that set-piece routine inspired by the set-piece
03:45coach, Nicolas Jover. And yeah, just minutes before, he actually headed just over identical
03:54kind of set-piece, and he did it again. He went one better, he scored. And to give Arsenal
04:02that 2-1 lead before half-time, it was a really, really good goal. And I think that's
04:06something that Arsenal have obviously improved on this season.
04:09Do you feel that in general, that there's sort of feels like there's maybe a slight
04:14gradual shift in the balance of power between the two teams? Of course, Manchester City
04:18won the title last season, they ended up as champions again, but the gap definitely at
04:22very least is getting narrower and narrower. Do you think we're heading towards a point
04:26where Arsenal can realistically be seen as even potentially a better team than Manchester
04:31City? Is that the kind of upward curve you think you're seeing for right now?
04:34Yeah, Kanji in particular said that City is still going to win the league. Bernardo Silva
04:40said that Arsenal compared to Liverpool, they haven't won the league title for a long time.
04:44They haven't won a European title. So they're not as much as a rival as Liverpool are. I
04:49think there was a lot of bashing from those City players after the game. But in my view,
04:55I think the shift is starting to turn a little bit. I think what we've seen from Arsenal,
05:01especially against City in the North London Derby last week as well, they are really just
05:05putting in real aggressive, top solid defensive performances and attacking performances, which
05:11are really getting them over the line. I think it was probably even more impressive against
05:16Spurs because they got the win. But you know, against arguably the best team in the world,
05:21I think they really are now starting to show that they can match up to this City team.
05:26Look, I think the biggest indication that the power is maybe starting to turn a little
05:31bit is the comments from the City players after the game. They were really rattled.
05:36I think Erling Haaland as well. I've never seen him like that. You know, the tapping
05:40of Gabriel's head, you know, swearing at a 17 year old player who's making his debut
05:47for Arsenal. You know, he really seemed rattled. And I think that's the biggest indication
05:52yet that the shift is starting to turn. They've got under the skin of City and not many teams
05:59are able to do that. You know, in previous seasons, they were losing 5-0, as I said,
06:03Granit Xhaka was sent off. And it was almost like an arm around the shoulder, Guardiola
06:09to Arteta and, you know, smiling after the game because they know that Arsenal weren't
06:14really much of a threat. But now I think that's starting to change. And that's really what
06:19we saw at the weekend. I think Arsenal now are looking like they can win the Premier League title.
06:24Yeah, I suppose we're now talking about Arsenal as a team that can make Pep Guardiola start
06:28assaulting his own chair. We'll ask a little bit about some of the individual performances
06:33shortly, but I did want to just sort of ask a general question. Do you think Arsenal deserve
06:37to win that game? Or do you think 2-2 was still a fair reflection of the, you know,
06:42the overall balance of play?
06:44I think they deserve to win it. I think really, the way they defended in the second half,
06:50really valiant defending. I think the thing that again, that impressed me most was the
06:56way that they really fought and battled for each other. City did have some good chances,
07:02but I think overall, I think Arsenal will be disappointed that they didn't get the result.
07:09I mean, City scored such a late goal and it was such a scrappy goal as well. I think
07:14that was probably the most disappointing thing. You know, you look at Arsenal's goals, they
07:18were really well worked, especially Califiora. I completely forgot to mention him, but he
07:23scored his first goal for Arsenal and it was an absolute wonder strike. So I think when
07:29you even compare the goals, I think there was certainly a bit more from Arsenal there.
07:35But yeah, I think Arsenal did deserve it. But look, 2-2 at the Etihad, as I said, against
07:40the best team in the world. I think they will be coming away from that at least happy that
07:46they did get something from the game.
07:48Yeah, you mentioned Califiora. I wanted to ask about him. Obviously he scored that sublime
07:52equaliser, but what did you make of his all-round performance? That's his first start for the
07:56Gunners. I mean, what did you make of him as a defender, as a part of the machine?
08:02Yeah, I think he got called out for that Harland goal, didn't he, early on. That was
08:05probably a bit disappointing. So I think he was desperate to kind of make up for it. And
08:10he certainly did. It was, as I said, a magnificent strike. I haven't seen such a kind of clean
08:16hit from an Arsenal player for a while. And that was really, it was a really perfect strike
08:22from a defender as well, which I think was even more impressive. I think with Califiora,
08:27he's probably a bit disappointed because he hasn't been starting games. And I think now
08:32with Alexander Zinchenko out for the next few weeks, I think that's really given him
08:37his chance to shine in the Arsenal team. So I think, yeah, it was a really good performance
08:42overall from him. As I said, didn't start off the best, but he's probably a little bit
08:46rusty. He got into the game, scored a great goal, and I think he'll be really happy with
08:51his performance because as I said, it's not an easy place to go to. I think he was up
08:56against some really top attacking players. And I think he certainly did really well in
09:03the end.
09:04I wanted to ask as well about how you thought Arsenal sort of getting on without Martin
09:08Odegaard. I mean, it looks like he's going to be out for a little while. The club haven't
09:11officially put a timeline on his return after suffering an ankle injury on international
09:16duty with Norway. But it's obviously having to make Arsenal play in a slightly more conservative
09:21way through the middle of the pitch. Do you think that's having a negative impact or do
09:25you think they're riding that wave quite well at the moment?
09:28So we're just speaking about Odegaard and I think in terms of Mikel Arteta, he was talking
09:32in his press conference this morning. It's going to be three weeks, maybe a bit longer
09:37for Odegaard. We'll probably see him back after the international break. But yeah, I
09:41think to answer your question, Matt, he is certainly being a big miss in the Arsenal
09:45midfield and not just for his midfield ability. I think it's also his leadership that is certainly
09:52missing. He's the captain, of course, and I think a lot of the players in the Arsenal
09:55team look to Odegaard for that kind of leadership. But I think it's really worth noting that
10:03the performance from Arsenal in the last two games without their main man is really has
10:09to be admired because I don't think a lot of teams can be missing such a key player
10:13and get results like that. So I think, yeah, it is a big miss, but Arsenal are showing
10:19that they don't necessarily need him to start every game. And I think it's a good sign that
10:26Arsenal have a lot of depth in their squad at the moment. So, yeah, I think that's good
10:31news and it's positive that he'll be back in the next few weeks.
10:37Well, that's all we've got time for in part one. We'll be back very soon with some chat
10:40about the dark arts and your questions. We'll see you shortly.